From "STEAL" DRUMS to STEEL-DRUMS

Posted By: The Pan Poet
Date: Friday, 29 October 2004, at 8:36 p.m.

De African drum is de African mouth
When de drums talking spirits jump out
They go in your mind and they go down yuh spine
And de shango spirits make you wriggle and wine
They go in yuh mind
Tickle yuh spine
Ah ya yi, they make yuh wine

You wriggle and wine as de drums converse
But de colonial masters, dem did fear the worse
They say how the drums talking war
So they "steal" the drums from shore to shore
But de shango spirits never leave de land
They went in a goat then they went in a man
Tamboo in de bamboo
And then they end up in a steelpan

And now de steelpan drum is the Trini mouth
And when de pans jamming spirits come out
They go in your mind and they go down yuh spine
And de steelpan spirits make you jump and wine
They go in yuh mind
Tickle yuh spine
Ah ya yi, yuh jump and wine

You jump and wine as de high notes ring
And ah Griot say "Pan is a spiritual ting."

For when de drums talking
And de pans jamming
When de drums talking
Spirits come out.

Jesse Andrews "Pan Poet"
(Copy right 2002)